The Simpsons

Kidrobot is a company that is perhaps best known for their vinyl Dunny figures, tiny, rabbit eared figures that have as many designs as they don’t have body types. These little handcrafted gems have become quite collectable among various groups, and Kidrobot has been eager to branch out. Which brings us to their Simpsons line.

Packaging:

Each figure comes in a sealed box, which means you’ve got no idea which figure you’ve purchased until you get it home. The boxes themselves are very neat, and include both original art work, as well as images of the figures available in each line.

Each image is accompanied by the odds that you will get that figure, and while rarity does have some effect on the value of each figure, popularity of the character also plays a big role.

Now, let’s say you’re one of those rabble rousing punks, and want to stick it to the man by cracking the box top and sneaking a glance at the figure before you buy. Well you are out of luck my friends, because the good people at Kidrobot are one step ahead of you. Open the box and you’re faced with this:

Curses, foiled by, er, foil!

Sculpt/Paint:

I’ve already purchased a few of these little guys, but I figured the casual fan would be most interested in the main characters, so I grabbed Homer and Marge for this one. We’ll start with the sculpt:

The figures are each hand painted, and with that in mind they look pretty darn good. I have found almost no paint slop on any of the figures, and the sculpt itself looks as good as a 2d cartoon figure can as 3d figures. Also, keeping in mind that these are stylized versions of the figures, they retain the characters’ essential feel, while also adding a bit of cool cuteness to them.

Articulation:

These figures have very limited movements, but as figures meant more for display than play that is to be expected.

Each figure has slight shoulder movement, and a head that can turn back and forth, but this is due to the fact that the heads are completely removable. It would have been nice if there was some kind of stopper to prevent this, but such is life. The heads don’t just pop off, and so again, since these are mainly display pieces, your movements will probably be minimal anyways.

Accessories:

Each figure comes with a sticker, which shows a picture of the character on it.

Various characters also come with their own personal accessory. Homer, for instance, comes with a donut, while Marge comes with nothing but the sticker.

Not pictured: Marge’s nothing

What’s interesting is that many of the characters in this line that come with accessories cannot actually hold them in their hands, and so your choice is to either keep them next to them on a shelf, or store them in the box.

Value:

These figures are kind of hard to find in stores around here. I know that Border’s books carried them for a while, but since it collapsed those are all gone now. Fortunately they have a thriving market on Ebay.

A few things to keep in mind if you are going to buy these online:

1. Avoid Amazon. These toys are usually listed on Amazon for far more than they are on Ebay. Some figures are listed at up to 200% higher prices! Especially for something small you might want to put on your desk at work, you don’t want to shell out a lot of money.

2. Shop around. I’m amazed how much disparity there is on prices for these figures. I found one seller who was offering a figure for 40 bucks, and on the next page the same figure was listed for 5. Be smart before you place a bid.

3. Go international. I found a lot of sellers in England who were selling these for far less than American dealers, and that includes shipping. Don’t be afraid to go overseas!

4. Make sure it’s all there. I only buy these if they include the original box and all the accessories. If the dealer is just selling the figure by itself it really hurts your resale chances later, if you are so inclined.

Marge ran me about 10 bucks, and Homer a bit more, so as I said before the rarity and popularity of the characters will affect the price. My advice is to shop around, but make sure you are willing to wait for a deal.

The Verdict:

These are neat little figures, but I would not invest a ton of money in them to be major future investments. If you find one you like, pick it up knowing it will probably be a neat, high quality collectable you can display with little worry of damage. Just make sure you are smart when you go shopping for them.

According to E! online, Marge Simpson will be posing nude in an upcoming issue of Playboy magazine. Considering how so many stars who do Playboy now don’t even appear nude, this must be a big coup for Playboy! They finally convinced someone to pose nude and it’s a cartoon.

The iconic cartoon TV mom Marge Simpson is set to appear naked on the cover of the November issue of Playboy Magazine. The issue will also include a three-page pictorial and “interview” to mark The Simpsons 20th anniversary.

I’ll be honest, while I don’t watch the Simpsons every week I’m not one of those nerds that feels the need to hate on the show. If I have to hear one more nerd proclaim how the show isn’t “near as good as season 3″ or some such nonsense I’ll puke. I think the Simpsons should pretty much always be on the air. It’s great mindless entertainment.

Although I do have to admit this is probably the oddest crossover I can remember. Playboy has been pulling a lot of really stupid stunts lately, so I have to wonder how their readership will enjoy this. But I guess if any cartoon woman has earned it, it’s Marge.

Does anyone else remember the Sampsons? I know this isn’t something I just dreamed up. The Sampsons were very popular for about a year or so and then all the merchandise disappeared, as well as all reference to them anywhere. For those that don’t know, the Sampsons were imitation Simpson merchandise that hit right about the time that the Simpsons were blowing up huge in the early 90′s. They didn’t have a TV show or any of that stuff, it was simply bootleg Simpson stuff with all of the characters being black.

At the time Bart Simpson was everywhere. Along with all his “Don’t have a cow man” and “Cowabunga” stuff. I don’t remember what Bart Sampson’s shirts said, although I know some of them just said the same thing. However I think some of the others were more racially themed.

This was during the great African American clothes revolution of the 1990′s when dashikis, Malcom X hats and the colors of Africa were all the rage. Along with all that came the Sampsons… Which were basically black Simpsons wearing dashikis, Malcom X hats and the colors of Africa. Noticing a trend?

The fad didn’t last long, but the Sampsons seemed to have lasted even less. I can only assume that either the Matt Groening personally killed off whomever created the Sampsons, or Fox just put the major kibosh on the whole thing. It’s strange because they had hats, t-shirts, posters, etc… Seems like a lot of stuff to just completely disappear.

There appears to be no evidence that these characters ever existed, but here are some rather cheap imitations. The Sampsons stuff actually said “SAMPSONS” on it as opposed to the Simpsons. Whereas these items aren’t quite the same. I don’t remember the Sampsons stuff being so racist looking either, but it could have been for all I remember.

Bootleg Simpsons from South Africa

I myself, never owned any Sampsons stuff. I’m not even sure where you could buy it at, but I seem to recall actually seeing it in stores, in addition to flea markets and such. It wasn’t completely bootleg, someone was making it… But who, why or how I guess I’ll never know.